Ittemiyo! Volume Twelve

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Used to be, it wasn't really anime until some dude's head went ka-blooey.

By D. F. Smith

One of the interesting things about Japanese animation, and Japanese pop culture in general, is the casual way it treats religious symbols and religious themes. Japan is unusual as world cultures go in that it seems to be interested in all kinds of religions, but doesn't actually take any of them terribly seriously – not even its own home-grown faiths and traditions. Hence the freewheeling use and abuse of religion in its movies, comics, video games, and cartoons.

This comes up on account of the climactic episode of Code Geass, which (without spoiling too much) has the guts to cut loose and turn itself into a twisted version of the atonement and death of Christ. I wasn't sure whether to laugh, applaud, or just sit there with my mouth gaping. The series as a whole has an abundance of issues (about which more later, when the DVD version arrives in August), but one thing you can say for this stuff, it could only have been made in Japan.

Recent News Funimation lately announced a slew of theatrical showings for the upcoming Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, and as it turns out, Canadian anime fans have plenty of reason to celebrate. The movie will screen in theaters across the United States, starting in Los Angeles at Anime Expo, but so far it'll only be hitting the biggest theaters in the very biggest cities – places like the Grand Illusion in Seattle, or the famous Alamo Draft House in Austin, Texas.

By comparison, on September 30, the movie will be shown in more than 50 theaters across Canada, from Moncton to Medicine Hat. Check out Funimation's official site for a complete list of dates and screening locations. Of course, we have a sneaking suspicion that more dates down here in the states have yet to be announced. Meanwhile, the American home video version is still coming "soon" (possibly by the end of the year, but we'll have to wait and see).

Should Be "Blades," Plural New license announcements haven't exactly been coming fast and furious with the opening of the anime convention season, but we're still seeing a show or two snapped up here and there. Most recently, Media Blasters picked up the new TV adaptation of the popular manga Blade of the Immortal, a 13-episode series that ran in Japan through the fall of last year.

Blade has been a cult favorite in America for years, thanks to the fine edition of Hiroaki Samura's comic strip published by Studio Proteus and Dark Horse Comics. It's nominally about a wandering samurai named Manji, who can survive almost any injury – an infestation of "holy bloodworms" heals him every time, albeit in the most disgusting possible way. As the story develops, though, the focus shifts more towards his traveling companion, a young girl named Rin, who embarks on a protracted campaign of revenge against a school of ruthless warriors who murdered her parents.

First encountering the TV show is a bit of a shock, just because of the visual contrast with the source material. It's very strange seeing Samura's characters in color, after years of his delicately-shaded pencil and ink drawings. Still, we'll keep an open mind in anticipation of the first DVD's September release.

In this fortnight's reviews, we have a movie about exploding heads, as well as a couple of other DVD releases that do not feature very many exploding heads of their own. The one flick has enough exploding heads for the lot of 'em, though.